My Oxford Year

February 12, 2018
In Whelan’s enjoyable debut, American grad student Ella Durran seems to have it all—not only is she achieving her teenage dream of attending Oxford University for one year on a Rhodes Scholarship, but she’s doing so while working remotely on the presidential campaign of a female politician she idolizes. The only dark cloud on her horizon is the annoying presence of her English professor, Jamie Davenport. They meet when he almost runs her over with his car; later, he accidentally spills condiments all over the front of her blouse. Things go rapidly downhill from there. Naturally, Ella falls in love with Jamie, who is not only smart and sensitive but also owns a Victorian townhouse with a ballroom and drives an Aston-Martin convertible. Ella spends her days working on her dissertation on Middlemarch and her nights being romanced by Jamie. But things take a turn for the tragic, and Ella is forced to choose between her commitment to her original dream and contemplating a new future that involves much personal risk and sacrifice. The novel is so predictably plotted that the reader will not be surprised by the road Ella ultimately chooses. But fans of One Day and Me Before You will still be charmed by this warm story and Ella and Jamie’s romance.

Narrator Julia Whelan performs her appealing debut novel as well as listeners would expect, which is to say, terrifically. The plot is a well-constructed take on the classic romantic drama, this time set in Oxford, where 24-year-old American Ella is studying on a Rhodes Scholarship. Enter her poetry professor, who turns out to be the guy she insulted that morning after he inadvertently trashed her blouse. You can guess the story's direction, but that's part of the satisfaction. And it's all told with an eye for cultural detail. In addition to American Ella and posh-Brit Jamie, Whelan has peopled her novel with Oxford's famous cornucopia of characters. The personalities pop, her pacing is superb, and the realism she injects will keep you wide-eyed. A.C.S. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

April 1, 2018

As early as age 13, Ohio native Ella Durran always dreamed of studying at Oxford. Now at 24, she's achieving her dream with a prestigious Rhodes scholarship to study English literature there. Just as she lands in England, she is offered a life-changing political career opportunity back in the United States when her scholarship ends in one year. Ella is feeling confident about the choices she's made to get her here and excited for her future. But then the literature professor she came to study with moves up the ranks and Jamie Davenport, the "posh prat" she had a messy run-in with, is her new professor. Starting a fun tryst with an expiration date with her new professor (something that's not considered as scandalous as in the States) seems to work perfectly for the both of them. Soon though, Ella discovers a secret of Jamie's and it has her questioning the future she's worked so hard for. VERDICT This pull-at-the-heartstrings yet sexy debut novel by Whelan, an award-winning audiobook narrator, is all about the choices we make for ourselves and others. It will delight Anglophiles as well as Jojo Moyes fans.--Melissa Keegan, Ela Area P.L., Lake Zurich, IL

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2018
A young woman starts an unexpected relationship while studying at Oxford in Whelan's debut.Ella Duran has a lot going on. After dreaming of studying at Oxford since she was a girl, she's finally there on a Rhodes scholarship, studying English language and literature from 1830-1914. She still has a career back in America, though--working in politics, where she has a chance to be the education consultant on a junior senator's campaign for president. She'll be working remotely and flying back to D.C. the second her year in Oxford ends. It all seems to be working out perfectly...but then she meets Jamie Davenport. After he runs into her in a chip shop and knocks a plate of condiments into her shirt, she thinks he's just a jerk and assumes she'll never see him again. But when she walks into her first day of class, she's dismayed to see that Jamie Davenport is her professor. Ella is soon making connections with her brainy classmates, including dramatic Charlie, pink-haired Maggie, and goofy Tom. She also begins a friendship with Jamie that soon turns into much more, although his reputation as a playboy and her short time in England make her assume that their "relationship" has an expiration date. But Jamie is charismatic and adventurous, and Ella can't help falling for him--which is why it's such a shock when she discovers that he's been hiding a huge secret. He has cancer, and now Ella must decide if their relationship will really be over when her Oxford year ends or if she wants to stay by his side through the inevitable ups and downs of his illness. Whelan describes Oxford richly, allowing readers to almost smell the chips and hear the bustle on the streets. Ella is an engaging narrator, one many readers will easily relate to, and her friends are fun, wacky characters who trade quips as quickly as if they were on Gilmore Girls. Ella and Jamie's relationship, which could so easily turn saccharine, always feels genuine, in part because the description of his illness and chemo focuses on the realistically awful details. Despite the subject matter, the story is infused with enough humor that it never feels unbearably heavy.Whelan has created a beautiful, romantic story that focuses on big ideas--love, death, poetry, and what really matters in the end.

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April 1, 2018
When Ella leaves for her year as a Rhodes Scholar, she expects to return to D.C. with classic Oxford memories and connections to fuel her political career. In fact, she's already agreed to consult on a presidential campaign for a promising candidate from England. She doesn't plan to have a sexy fling with her English-literature professor, or for them to fall for each other. And she certainly isn't prepared for him to reveal a diagnosis that will alter the course of their lives. This debut novel has a preponderance of heart while offering respite from heady emotions with light wit. Actor, screenwriter, and award-winning audiobook narrator Whelan draws from her own Oxford experience, creating a richly rendered setting of not just the university's spires but of the surrounding chip shops and grubby pubs that are just as vital. She ably captures a young woman finding her way when her carefully made plans come apart. A movie adaptation is on the way.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)